Wagon-shaft.



G. ERICKSON.

WAGON SHAFT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30.1909.

9.21 ,528., Patented May 11, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1` 55m aw v C. ERICKSON.

WAGON SHAFT.

APPLIUATION FILED IAN. 30, 1909. 921,528. Patented May 11, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED sTA'rEs PA. ENT eEEicE.

CHRISTIAN ERICKSON, OF TOWER CITY, NORTH DAKOTA.

WAGON-SHAFT.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHEISTIANEEICKSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Tower City, in the county of Cass and State of North Dakota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wagon-Shafts, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in vehiclethills.

The object of my invention is to provide a thill to be used with asingle horse rig arranged so that the thill may be shifted to bring thedraft animal in the wheel'rut either upon the right or left, or theanimal may be secured centrally between the wheel ruts.

With this and other objects in view the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter morefully described, and particularly pointed out in the claim, and it willbe understood that changes in the specific structure shown and describedmay be made within the scope of the claim without departin from thespirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specication, and in which likenumerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views,Figure 1 discloses a top view of a thill constructed according to myinvention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, Fig. 3 is a plan view ofone of the upper face lates, Fig. lis a plan view of the lower face pate, Fig. 5 is a side view of one of the brace rods and connected clips,Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the adjusting clamps, Figs. 7, 8and 9 disclose the intermediate and eXtreme side positions of thethills.

The aim of my invention is, to provide a thill so arranged that same maybe shifted from side to side relative to the front axle, so as toprovide a safe and convenient footing for the draft animal as well as toinsure an easy trail and riding of the vehicle. This I accomplish inthat I connect the thills to the front axle in such a way that thevehicle will trail in the wheel ruts if that is desirable, or the draftanimal may be given a path within one of the ruts, the wheels runningbetween the ruts.

In the accompanying drawings 5, 5, represents two stub thills which attheir outer ends are connected by means of the transverse carrier bar 6.the stub thills by means of the cli 7 which clip below is continued inthe coup ing rod 8 fastened to the lower ends of the stub thillsSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 30, 1909.

The carrier bar 6 is secured toY Patented May 11, 1909.

Serial No. 475,143.

and terminates in the thill coupling 10 as disclosed. This carrier bar 6is reinforced above by means of the face late 12 and be low by means ofthe face p ate 13. These plates are secured by means of suitable screws.The carrier bar 6 is further secured to the thills by means of thecorner braces 14 disclosed in the top view.

The thills 18 as used in my invention are secured to an adjustably heldcross bar 15 the upper and lower faces of which are reinforced by meansof the face plates 16 and 17, these face plates being perforated inorder to receive the pin 19 carrying the swingletree. At their ends, theshafts 18 are secured to this cross bar 15 by means of the clip 21, andthe corner brace rods 22 as disclosed in the top view.

In order to adjustably secure the cross bar 15 to the carrier bar 6, Iemploy two clamps, each clamp comprising two similar members 24 eachhaving central screw openings 25 and 25 the centrally positioned lugs 26and the terminal clip 27 as clearly disclosed in the drawings. The screwor bolt opening 25 within the upper clamp member at its outer end issquared to receive the square upper end 28 of the adjusting bolt 29which below is provided with the lever nut 30. By means of these clampsand the connected bolt, the members 6 and 15 are held in adjustablespaced relation.

As disclosed in Fig. 1 the carrier bar 6 eX- tends beyond the side ofthe stub thills 5, so that when the clamps are secured one of them willbe placed upon the outside and adjacent to the clip 7. By this means thethill-carrying cross bar 15 is adjustably secured to the carrier bar 6so that the thills may be given any desired position relative to thewheel ruts. By this arrangement the animal may be so positioned as totravel squarely within the right wheel rut as will be understoodreferring to Fig. 9, or the shafts or thills may be adjusted so that thedraft animal will travel squarely between the wheel ruts.

The bars 6 and l5, are of equal length, width, and thickness, and theterminal lips 27 of the clamps are held parallel to the lugs 26.

The device is light, neat, simple of construction and readily operated.

Having thus described my said invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by United States Letters Patent is:

The combination with two stub thills, of a carrier bar transverselysecured to said thills at their ends, the ends of said Carrier barprojecting beyond said thills, two thillsI a cross bar of a length,width and thickness equal to said carrier bar connecting said thills attheir rear ends, two clamps, each clamp Comprising two similar membersJeach member having a centrally positioned spacing lug, eaeh lug having abolt opening, each Clamp having two terminal lips held parallel to saidlugs, the distance between each lug and lip being equal to the width ofsaid barsI and bolts passing through said openings within said lugs sothat said clamps may be fastened to said bars to hold them in parallelspaced relationI in the manner disclosed.

ln testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in, presence of twowitnesses.

CHRISTIAN ERCKSGN. lfvlitnesses FENNO B. KEFF, G. C. WARD.

